Boomless, sprayer for field application for agricultural liquids

Abstract

A spray type applicator for liquid agricultural chemicals has no boom but uses only a cluster of nozzles which emit sprays to create narrow ground-impacting overlapping patterns extending laterally of the carrying vehicle. Swath width of the overall pattern is maintained substantially constant by automatically adjusting the above-ground height of those nozzles which throw laterally outwardly of the vehicle in accordance with nozzle pressure which is varied to vary application rate. Others of the nozzles, which direct their sprays downwardly, are fixed to the vehicle because the swath width of their ground-impacting spray patterns will not change appreciably with changes in nozzle pressure.

I claim: 
     
       1. Boomless apparatus for applying agricultural liquids to the ground at a predetermined rate, in amount per unit area, with vehicle means traveling over the ground at a controlled rate of speed and carrying a supply of the liquid, comprising: nozzle means for emitting a spray of the liquid;   means for supplying liquid under pressure from the supply to said nozzle means at an adjustable rate, in amount per unit time, proportional to vehicle speed;   means mounting said nozzle means on the vehicle means within the confines of the lateral outlines of the vehicle means and for directing the spray generally laterally outwardly of the direction of movement of the vehicle means so that the spray will impact the ground in a pattern generally in the shape of a narrow band moving transversely of its length, which length is the swath width of the pattern;   said nozzle means being constructed so that the swath width of said pattern and the distance thereof from said nozzle means varies with (a) the pressure of the liquid supplied to said nozzle means over a predetermined range of said pressures and (b) the above-ground height of said nozzle means; and   said mounting means including means for adjusting the above-ground height of said nozzle means for correspondence with the pressure of the liquid supplied thereto in order to maintain substantially constant the swath width of said pattern and the lateral distance thereof from said nozzle means.   
     
     
       2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the height adjusting means is automatic in response to the liquid pressure. 
     
     
       3. The structure defined in claim 2 in which the height adjustment means includes adjustable means for compensating for liquids of different specific gravities. 
     
     
       4. The structure defined in claim 3 which the adjustable compensating means adjusts the liquid pressure required to attain given above-ground heights. 
     
     
       5. The structure defined in claim 2 in which the height-adjusting means includes: a hydraulic linear actuator operable by liquid under pressure independent of the liquid supplying means; and   means for controlling the position of the movable part of said actuator in accordance with the pressure of the liquid supplied to the nozzle means.   
     
     
       6. The structure defined in claim 5 in which the controlling means includes adjustable means for compensating for liquids of different specific gravities. 
     
     
       7. The structure defined in claim 5 in which the control means includes: a pair of switches for controlling electrically-operable valve means for supplying and exhausting liquid under pressure to and from the actuator, said switches having opposed operating push-buttons;   means carried by the movable part of said actuator extending between said buttons; and   means mounting said switches for linear movement parallel to that of said movable part and responsive to the pressure of the liquid supplied to the nozzles so that the extent of said movement corresponds to said pressure.   
     
     
       8. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the supplying means includes centrifugal pump means driven in accordance with the speed of the vehicle means. 
     
     
       9. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the nozzle means is inclined downwardly from the horizontal. 
     
     
       10. The structure defined in claim 1 in which there are two like nozzle means for emitting sprays in opposite lateral directions. 
     
     
       11. The structure defined in claim 1 including a manifold for mounting a plurality of like nozzle means to selectively vary the application rate by mounting a predetermined number of nozzle means to said manifold. 
     
     
       12. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the height adjusting means includes a parallelogram linkage for maintaining substantially constant the direction of the spray emitted by the nozzle means. 
     
     
       13. The structure defined in claim 1 in which there are at least two nozzle means on the mounting means for emitting sprays in the same lateral direction having ground-impacting patterns which somewhat overlap laterally. 
     
     
       14. The structure defined in claim 13 in which the two nozzle means are inclined downwardly from the horizontal at different angles. 
     
     
       15. The structure defined in claim 1 including: additional nozzle means supplied by the supplying means for emitting a fan-shaped spray of the liquid;   means fixedly mounting said additional nozzle means on the vehicle means for directing the spray generally downwardly with the plane of the spray extending transversely of the direction of movement whereby the ground-impacting pattern of the spray is generally in the shape of a narrow band moving transversely its length, which length is the swath width of the pattern, the pattern being located laterally inwardly of but somewhat overlapping laterally the pattern of the spray emitted by the height-adjustable nozzle means; and   said additional nozzle means being constructed so that the swath width of said ground-impacting pattern of the spray emitted thereby is substantially constant over the predetermined range of pressures.   
     
     
       16. The structure defined in claim 15 in which there are two height-adjustable nozzle means for emitting sprays in opposite lateral directions and two fixedly mounted nozzle means with the ground-impacting pattern of all adjacent sprays emitted from said nozzle means somewhat overlapping laterally. 
     
     
       17. The structure defined in claim 15 in which the additional nozzle means is inclined rearwardly of the direction of movement at an acute angle from the vertical. 
     
     
       18. The structure defined in claim 15 in which the additional nozzle means is inclined laterally outwardly at an acute angle from the vertical. 
     
     
       19. A boomless method of applying agricultural liquids to the ground at a predetermined rate, in amount per unit area, the steps comprising: supplying nozzle means with the liquid under pressure at an adjustable rate, in amount per unit time, to generate a spray;   moving the nozzle means horizontally over the ground with moving vehicle means while confining the nozzle means within the lateral outlines of the vehicle means and directing the nozzle means to emit the spray generally laterally of the direction of the movement of the nozzle means so that the spray will impact the ground in a pattern generally in the shape of a narrow band moving transversely of its length, which length is the swath width of the pattern; the rate of the liquid supply being proportional to the speed of the movement;   the nozzle means being constructed so that the swath width of said pattern and the distance thereof from the nozzle means varies in accordance with (a) the pressure of the liquid supplied to the nozzle means over a predetermined range of such pressures and (b) the above-ground height of the nozzle means; and   adjusting the above-ground height of the nozzle means for correspondence with the pressure of the liquid supplied thereto in order to maintain substantially constant the swath width of said pattern and the distance thereof from the nozzle means.   
     
     
       20. The method defined in claim 19 including: supplying the nozzle means with liquid from centrifugal pump means; and   driving the pump means at a speed proportional to the speed of the horizontal movement of the nozzle means.   
     
     
       21. The method defined in claim 19 in which the height adjusting step is automatic in response to the liquid pressure. 
     
     
       22. The method defined in claim 21 including the additional step of adjusting the liquid pressure supplied to the nozzle means to that required to attain given above-ground heights for compensating for liquids of different specific gravities. 
     
     
       23. The method defined in claim 19 in which the nozzle means is directed at an inclination downwardly from the horizontal. 
     
     
       24. The method defined in claim 19 in which there are two like nozzle means with a common supply to emit sprays in opposite lateral directions. 
     
     
       25. The method defined in claim 19 in which there are at least two nozzle means with a common supply directed to emit sprays in the same lateral direction with ground-impacting patterns that somewhat overlap laterally. 
     
     
       26. The method defined in claim 25 in which the two nozzle means are directed at different inclinations downwardly from the horizontal. 
     
     
       27. The method defined in claim 19 including: additional nozzle means to generate a fan-shaped spray with the same supply and horizontal movement as the laterally directed nozzle means;   directing the additional nozzle means to emit the spray generally downwardly with the plane of the spray extending transversely of the direction of movement whereby the ground-impacting pattern of the spray is generally in the shape of a narrow band moving transversely of its length, which length is the swath width of the pattern, the pattern being located laterally inwardly of but somewhat overlapping laterally the pattern of the spray emitted by the laterally directed nozzle means;   maintaining substantially constant the above-ground height of the additional nozzle means; and   the additional nozzle means being constructed so that the swath width of the ground-impacting pattern of the spray emitted thereby is substantially constant over the predetermined range of pressures.